My husband and I have lived in our house for three decades now. Yeah, a long time to be loving the same piece of land. We are indeed fortunate.

We’re also bird lovers, and have been feeding our avian pals for almost as long as we’ve lived here. And never, in that entire time, have we ever had to deal with bears at our bird feeders.

Until recently.

The Vermont Department of Fish and Game recommends that bird lovers keep their sunflower seed and suet to themselves until November 1 in order to prevent it being eaten by hungry bears. And we do that.

But winter has been dragging its feet this year. It’s been cold, sure, but the only frost has been on our porch roof, the river has shown no inclination to form ice, and you could still stick a shovel in the ground. So the local bears have not headed to their winter headquarters yet.

Still, bears have never come into our yard so we left the feeders in place overnight, not worried at all.

Until a few days ago. We heard some noise in the yard after dark, a rustling sound. My husband opened the front door, took a look around but couldn’t see anything. After that, it was quiet.

But when the sun came up, we discovered our three sunflower seed feeders spilled in the grass. One of our suet feeders had been wrenched from its hook and squeezed like a toothpaste tube.

We no longer live bear-free.

Two nights later, after bird-feeder repairs, we weren’t quite quick enough to get everything inside for the night. Rustling sound, and my husband out the front door with flashlight in hand to find two quite-young culprits shinnied up the big maple on the edge of our yard, their eyes glinting in the light.

They stared. We stared, retrieved the feeders, and withdrew so that they could leave with their dignity intact.

But now, of course, we’re fretting about the young age of these amazing creatures. Too young, we judge, to be on their own for the winter. Where is Mom?